It has been the big question on paddock lips all week here: is it all over?

No, not the drivers’ championship. That has looked dead and buried for a while, with Red Bull’s Sebastian Vettel inching his way closer to a fourth straight title after claiming pole for this morning’s Korean Grand Prix.

Only a gust of seriously bad luck or a typhoon – and heavy rain was forecast for Saturday with Tropical Storm Fitow lurking nearby – look capable of blowing the German off course.

No, what everyone wants to know is whether the Korean race itself is all over. Have we made our last 24-hour trek to Mokpo, 280 miles south of Seoul, to stay in a love hotel? And if so, is it time to start celebrating?

The Korean Grand Prix, which made its debut in 2010, has got to be a prime candidate for least-popular race of the year among the travelling F1 community.

Some do not much care for China, with its soulless, gargantuan Shanghai International Circuit. But at least the Chinese race is in a bustling city an hour or so from a major international airport and thousands of fans turn up to watch. It is also a key market for teams and sponsors.

Others find the sterility – or the politics – of the Middle Eastern events difficult to stomach. But they, too, are easier to reach than Korea and done on such an extravagant, luxurious level that it is easy to be seduced.

The Korean race has few things going for it. The location is a disaster, not only for F1 personnel, but for fans and potential sponsors who are conspicuous by their absence.

The track itself is reasonably popular with the drivers – if you like modern Hermann Tilke circuits – built to a high standard on reclaimed marshland next to the Yellow Sea and bathed in glorious pink sunsets every evening so far this week.

The trouble is no one turns up. The old Field of Dreams adage “If you build it they will come” does not apply here. Locals either have no idea what Formula One is or no chance of stumping up the £400 or so for a weekend pass.

Lewis Hamilton remarked rather forlornly that they might as well put cardboard cutouts of fans up in the stands so that at least it felt like someone was watching.

“It’s the most relaxed weekend of the whole year,” Hamilton added, putting a more positive spin on things. “But I like it generally when we’re in the cities. I like Singapore, I like Montreal, I like being amongst people in the city. Here we don’t really see many people except at the track, or the two receptionists at my hotel.”

That hotel is the nearby Hyundai Hotel, the only decent western-style accommodation for miles and therefore colonised by drivers and team bigwigs.

The rest of F1’s travelling circus stay in Mokpo, an industrial port town nearby, which is lively enough at night but lags on the accommodation front.

Almost everyone sleeps in love hotels, which in Korea more usually act as a venue for young couples still living with their parents to consummate their relationship.

They appear to have cleaned up their act a bit over the years but there are still reports of condoms and bottles of lubricant in the rooms, mirrors on the ceiling, red lights above the bed and vending machines in the corridor. One person in the circuit’s first year, in 2010, even claimed to have an electric ‘love chair’ with stirrups. Some bring their own sheets and pillows, fearful that their rooms are being rented out while they are at the circuit.

Most of the stories are exaggerated and, in fact, there is a certain charm to the weekend. The bars and restaurants may be basic but they are quirky. The locals are friendly.

For everyone, though, particularly towards the end of such a long season, it is a case of in and out as quickly as possible. Or as quickly as the high-speed train from Mokpo to Seoul will allow, which is still over three hours.

So what of the race’s future? The original plan was to build an international university, a medical school, an aerospace engineering college, even a casino across the water from the F1 circuit. It looks like being too much of a gamble.

After estimated losses of roughly £60 million since 2010 it is easy to see why.

An official sign at the entrance to the circuit reads “Thank you Mr Ecclestone for the 2013 Korean Grand Prix”. It is unclear whether Formula One’s chief executive will be moved by their gratitude.

Korea is listed with an asterisk next to its name on next year’s 22-race calendar and the race promoter himself rates its chances of making a new, unfamiliar April date (it is slated to run back-to-back with China) as only “50-50”.

The popular theory is that Ecclestone is keeping an open mind on Korea with a number of other venues – Russia, Mexico and particularly New Jersey – looking less than certain.